Triasima Portfolio Management inc. Purchases 12,170 Shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS)

Triasima Portfolio Management inc. raised its stake in shares of Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS - Free Report) by 70.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 29,505 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 12,170 shares during the quarter. Triasima Portfolio Management inc.'s holdings in Novartis were worth $2,979,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of NVS. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Novartis by 102,209.0% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,522,057 shares of the company's stock valued at $410,241,000 after purchasing an additional 4,517,637 shares in the last quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC grew its holdings in shares of Novartis by 167.6% in the third quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC now owns 1,827,263 shares of the company's stock valued at $186,125,000 after purchasing an additional 1,144,307 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Novartis by 103.0% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,992,558 shares of the company's stock valued at $174,847,000 after purchasing an additional 1,010,806 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Novartis by 50.4% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,049,901 shares of the company's stock valued at $208,803,000 after purchasing an additional 686,847 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Novartis by 27.2% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,781,596 shares of the company's stock valued at $244,085,000 after purchasing an additional 594,194 shares in the last quarter. 13.12% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on NVS shares. HSBC lowered shares of Novartis from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, December 18th. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on Novartis in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $114.00 price target for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley began coverage on Novartis in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $114.00 price target for the company. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Novartis presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $104.33.

Novartis Trading Down 0.9 %

NVS traded down $0.82 during trading on Friday, reaching $93.52. The company had a trading volume of 2,099,603 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,517,855. Novartis AG has a 52 week low of $92.19 and a 52 week high of $108.78. The stock has a market cap of $198.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.03, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 0.54. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $99.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $99.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39.

Novartis (NYSE:NVS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The company reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.64 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $11.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.69 billion. Novartis had a net margin of 29.83% and a return on equity of 29.90%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.51 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Novartis AG will post 7.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Novartis Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced an annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 8th were paid a dividend of $3.7772 per share. This is a positive change from Novartis's previous annual dividend of $3.47. This represents a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 7th. Novartis's payout ratio is currently 34.26%.

About Novartis

Novartis AG researches, develops, manufactures, and markets healthcare products in Switzerland and internationally. It offers prescription medicines for patients and physicians. It focuses on therapeutic areas, such as cardiovascular, renal and metabolic, immunology, neuroscience, and oncology, as well as ophthalmology and hematology.